


Still Standing

by heyjupiter



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-13
Updated: 2013-12-13
Packaged: 2018-01-04 11:56:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1080726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyjupiter/pseuds/heyjupiter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been over forty years since the last time Moira MacTaggart saw Raven Darkholme. Now CIA Assistant Director MacTaggart is visiting the mutant terrorist Mystique in her holding cell, hoping to get some information from her about the Brotherhood of Mutants and the so-called "mutant cure." She may get more than she bargained for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still Standing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [a_q](https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_q/gifts).



> This is set during X-Men 3: The Last Stand. I know Moira MacTaggart has a brief cameo as a doctor in that movie, but this is the XMFC version of Moira aged forward. It's not my fault Marvel made two of her :)
> 
> Thanks very much to fourteenacross for being an awesome beta reader/hand holder! ♥

"This is most irregular, Assistant Director MacTaggart," said Secretary Trask. "This is a domestic case, and it is being handled by the Department of Homeland Security. It's not a CIA operation."

"Yes, sir, I'm aware of that," Moira said. "However, I believe that inter-agency communication should be encouraged. We're all on the same side. I've been with the CIA for over 40 years, and I believe I can help extract more information from her."

"You're not an interrogator."

"No, sir, but I am an expert on human-mutant relations." Moira knew Trask knew that. Everyone knew that about Moira MacTaggart, and recently it had even come to be been seen as something of an asset. Especially since President McKenna appointed her old friend Hank as Secretary of Mutant Affairs. He'd secretly sent her video of Homeland Security's clumsy interrogation of Raven. However, she and Hank both knew that the armed forces were more conservative than other branches of the government when it came to mutant rights. It wasn't that long ago that the were kidnapping mutants and experimenting on them, after all.

In her most diplomatic tone, Moira said, "I understand that Ms. Darkholme is a special case, and I believe my background may help me communicate with her, better than most other humans." It never hurt for Moira to remind people that, despite her reputation, she was human.

Trask gave her a long look and nodded. "Well, to be perfectly honest, I suppose you can't do much worse than our first interrogator did. I'll have the recordings sent to you so you can review them, and someone from my office will arrange for you to have a visit with her later this week."

Moira carefully kept the surprise off her face and said, "Thank you, Secretary Trask. I think I'll really be able to help the investigation."

"Mm-hmm," Trask said. 

"Is there anything else you wished to discuss?" Moira asked.

"No, thank you, that will be all," Trask said. "As I said, someone from my office will be in touch with you." He offered her his hand. She shook it and showed herself out. She kept her composure all the way back to Langley, and then she allowed herself a small, triumphant smile at her desk. 

That afternoon, a courier brought her an encrypted disc, and Moira watched Raven's interrogation videos again. There were a few attempts after the one Hank had sent her, the one that had ended with Raven attempting to strangle her interrogator with her handcuffs. The next ones showed Raven with more restraints, but providing even less information. She almost seemed to be enjoying herself.

She wondered if Hank had seen those othervideos. She wondered if Charles had. She thought about calling him, but she decided to wait until after she'd gotten a chance to see Raven herself. Anyway, if Charles wanted to get in touch with his sister, Moira was certain he could figure out a way.

She watched the videos again. All the other interrogators were male, but Moira knew better than to expect any kind of feminine bonding with _Mystique_. Still, Moira knew she was smarter than the other interrogators, and she understood the Brotherhood of Mutants better than they did, even if she could not condone their tactics. 

And then there was the fact that Moira had already met Raven, had once worked closely with her, before she'd become Mystique. She wasn't sure if Raven would remember, or if it would be an asset if she _did_ remember. It had been years before Moira herself remembered, but eventually the walls Charles had put in her mind had begun to dissolve. She pieced together enough fragments and paid him a visit. He looked different than her hazy memories of him. His hair was long and shaggy, he used a wheelchair, and his blue eyes had lost some of the optimism she associated with him. He restored her memories and apologized for what he'd done to her. They struck up a long-distance friendship, one that had occasional professional benefits for both of them. 

Moira sighed and reviewed the CIA's files on the Brotherhood of Mutants. For all Secretary Trask's talk of this being a domestic case, Raven had quite the international rap sheet as well. The Brotherhood of Mutants had taken their quest for mutant liberation around the globe, and Mystique was Magneto's second-in-command. There was a lot of blood on those blue hands of hers.

The truth was, Moira didn't think she stood much of a chance of getting any information out of Raven. Raven was die-hard committed to her cause, which made her difficult to bargain with. Still, Moira had to try, and the next morning she met with a Homeland Security escort and was briefed about the security arrangements: "You will have a maximum of one hour with the prisoner. You are not permitted to make physical contact of any kind with the prisoner. You are not permitted to bring any personal belongings into the prisoner's cell. Your interrogation will be video recorded. You are not permitted to speak about this with anyone who does not have the appropriate security clearance."

"Of course, I understand," Moira said. It's not like this was her first day on the job. She passed through an X-ray, checked all her personal effects into a locker, and was led into a small, bare cell. Raven was cuffed to a chair at her ankles, waist, and wrists. Two guards stood by the door. It was one degree short of _Silence of the Lambs_ , but Moira had seen what Raven could do with lesser restraints.

If Raven was surprised to see Moira, her yellow eyes didn't register it at all. A small smirk played on her lips, but she said nothing at all to her new visitors.

Moira sat down in the cell's other chair and said, "Hello, Mystique." She'd learned from the previous interrogators not to call her by her "slave name," even if Moira still couldn't help but think of her as Raven.

"Hello, Agent MacTaggart. Come to reminisce about old times?"

Well, that answered the question of whether Raven remembered her. Moira said, "If you'd like."

Raven laughed. "Don't pretend to care about what I'd like."

"Okay, fine. I'll tell you what I'd like. I'd like to see fewer people killed by terrorism. That's what you and Erik have become, you know. Terrorists."

"Sure. Mutant kids commit suicide every _day_ because their so-called families won't accept them for who they are, and _we're_ the terrorists."

"So you see no middle ground? Not even, say, boarding schools just for mutants?" This was the card up Moira's sleeve; Charles had managed to make all public connections between Raven and Charles disappear. No one knew the two had grown up together, not even the CIA. Not officially. 

Raven tilted her head slightly and said, "Projects like that would be a Band-Aid. A naive dream for the privileged few. True equality cannot exist in the current political climate."

"And you breaking into the Food and Drug Administration is working toward equality?"

Raven said, "You think the _cure_ will bring us equality?" Her lips twisted when she said "cure," as if the word itself were poisonous. "I suppose we'll all be equally weak and helpless. And you'll have to find a new Secretary of Mutant Affairs, won't you? He won't look so good on TV if he's not blue anymore."

"I don't believe Secretary McCoy has any plans to take the cure. Times have changed. That's all you wanted from the FDA? To steal the documentation of the mutant cure?"

"What does it matter, anyway? I obviously failed," Raven said. She raised her chin and stared at Moira with defiant eyes.

Moira considered that. What if Raven had _wanted_ to be caught? Realistically, that was about the only way she could imagine _Mystique_ being brought in, especially by the security guards at the FDA. She said, "Humor me. Does the Brotherhood plan to attack the facility where the cure is being manufactured?" 

Moira didn't expect her to answer, but it was possible her reaction would reveal something. Raven rolled her eyes, briefly reminding Moira of the teenage girl she'd once been.

"Mystique, things will be easier for you if you cooperate."

"I'm not especially interested in making things easy."

"Do you fear that the cure would be made mandatory for all mutants?"

"Not all mutants, no. It would only be the _dangerous_ ones, wouldn't it?" Raven said, her voice hard.

Moira said, "They wouldn't--" and then stopped, because realistically, they probably _would_. When they'd arrested Magneto a few years ago, after his attack on the UN summit, they would have loved to have sentenced him to be cured, rather than build that elaborate plastic bubble for him. She'd been researching Mystique and the Brotherhood, but she should have been researching the cure.

Raven smirked. "You're still one of _them_ , MacTaggart, and you think like they do. No matter how often you play chess with your naive mutant friend. I have nothing else to say to you."

So the Brotherhood was monitoring Moira's movements, or at least, Charles's school. Moira said, "Do you have anything you'd like to say to… my naive mutant friend?"

"Sure. Tell him I said 'mutant and proud.' And that I hope security measures on his school have improved since I was a student."

"Is that a threat?"

Mystique rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I'll be sure to pass the message on, then," Moira said. She nodded at Mystique and got up from her chair. Her allotted hour was far from over, but she was sure Raven meant it when she said she was finished and she didn't see the point in wasting either of their time. The guards came to escort her back to the door, and she heard Mystique snort.

"Don't even think about it, bitch," one of the guards said. In the hallway he said, "You're the first one she hasn't even tried to kill."

"Well, I do have a way with people," Moira said, and because she outranked them, neither of them called her a "mutie-lover" within earshot.

She went back to Langley and filed a confidential report with Homeland Security, advising them to go back to the FDA and make sure Mystique hadn't left something there. Then she rescheduled a meeting, went home and called Hank. She told him how her interrogation had gone, more or less (she kept Mystique's comments about Hank to herself) and asked him if the government had plans to sentence mutants to be cured. His flustered non-reply told her all she needed to know. 

Finally, she poured herself a glass of wine and called Charles, to pass on his sister's warning. Charles promised to investigate the school's security.

Moira added, "She also said to tell you, 'mutant and proud.'"

Charles was quiet for a moment before replying, "Ah. Thank you, Moira."

"You're welcome, I suppose," Moira said. She knew it must have stung Charles to hear Raven's message, to be reminded of her last words on the beach on that terrible day. "Oh, and if you haven't already, you're probably going to get a call from Hank."

"He's on his way to visit us. I know what he wants to tell us."

"So what are you going to do about it?" Moira genuinely wanted to know. She wanted to do the right thing, and she usually trusted Charles's judgment, especially on matters related to the mutant community.

"I don't see that there's anything I can do."

Moira frowned. That didn't sound like the Charles she knew. "You're not without influence, Charles. It would mean a lot for you to publicly condemn the cure."

"Moira, you know that the school is only able to survive because of our low profile."

"I just don't think that's the case. It's not 1963 anymore, Charles. Are you going to take a stand?"

"I'll leave it to the younger generation to take a stand. My priority is to make sure those young mutants have a safe haven here."

"What if there _are_ no young mutants?"

"That's a bit over the top, don't you think? What else did Mystique say to you?"

"I already told you her message, Charles. Just… please, listen closely to Hank. This is an important moment."

"I know, Moira." Charles sounded irritated, as he generally did when someone presumed to know more than he did. "I'll have to let you go. I have a class to teach."

"Goodbye, then."

"Goodbye. Thank you again for the message."

Moira hung up the phone and drank her wine. It was hard to believe that she and Charles and Hank and Raven and Erik had all once stood together against Sebastian Shaw. Now things were so complicated it was hard to tell where the sides where, let alone what side everyone was on. 

Maybe it was time for her to retire. Or maybe the CIA needed her skill set now more than ever. She poured another glass of wine and logged on to the CIA's remote server, making sure she wasn't missing any critical details about the mutant cure and the U.S. government's plan for it. She wanted to be prepared when the time came for her to take a stand for mutant rights.


End file.
